Can unloading apparatus



May 13, 1947.

J. LBERTCJLIy CAN UNLODING APPARATUS Filed March 29, 1945 INVENTOR.

A T TORNEY Patented May 13, 1947 I n,

UNITED s'rAT CAN UNLoADnyG APPARATUS John Albertoli, San Francisco, Calif.

Application Miam/1129;1945Seieiup. 585.483"V scams. (ci. 19a-3s)v` `1 This Linvention relates to apparatusl forj l loading loose cans from freight cars or warehouses wherein they may be stacked.: k;

The principal object of the invention is'to proi-4V Vide such apparatus which will facilitate' `the un'- loading and transportation of a car load of empty cans received to` a', cannery where they are to, be

'used'. i

Particular features and advantage-sof, the kinvention will appear in the following description and inthe accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of'my improved'can Y' unloading apparatus with portions broken away l f Fig. 2- is a vertical cross section of Fig.1"taken to reveal the inner arrangement of its parts.

alongthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing the latch bar holding a stack ofcans in place. for dropping;`

to the discharging conveyor. l n

Fig. 3 is a view like that of Fig. 2 but showing the stack of cans manually supported Aover apparatus on a special pitch-fork. V

Fig; 4 is a cross section of the cantwlsting guidey as taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a much smaller scale viewshowing a horizontal section of a railroad box car with both cans are manually placed, to fall to a conveyor at the bottom of the bin which transports the cans to an elevator from the top of which they fall down to a gravity chute or another conveyor for rolling or transporting from the car to the cannery or warehouse. A As the cans generally handled with the an paratus are open at one end, and they are stacked in they opposite ends ofthe box car horizontally with open ends towardthe center of the car, means is provided on the gravity chute to turn the cans end for end as may be required to have the nally discharged cans all pointing one waywhichever is requiredat the particular cannery or warehouse. U In the drawings, I is the elongated bin, provided with a pair of legs 2 at one end and a pair of rollers or casters 3. at the other end.

The bin is preferably of sheet metal and is of a width within itsV front I and rearI' walls to freely receive a stack of cans lying transversely one aboveA the other.

` At the lower portion of the bin is an endless the 'them from failing.

belt conveyorwith its belt #passing overhead and tailfpulieys'B. 6 and with the upper run of. Athe belt 'slidably supported on a bottom plate 1 secured to' tiiefbin` "walls and lpreferably inclined 7 downwardly toward the discharge end. l

Thebelt conveyor is driven byany suitableA of power Aand transmissionf here indicated as byy small pulley I 6 secured to the head shaft I 1 which drives the conveyor head pulley 5. .r 1

Extending slantingly backwardabove therear wall I' of the bin is a large plate `I 8 againstwhich the cans I9 are stacked preparatory'tofallingfto f.

the conveyor and are Atsarnpora'rilyisupported in such position'by releasablemeans here shown'as a latch bar 20 provided with'ngers 2I which,.

by'turningthe bar,- can -b'e lprojected under the lower row of dans, as indicated in Fig. 2, to keep Thel latch bar 20 extends bin and is rotatably supported in end bearings 22, and provided with ai handle23 for turning they bar so that when the han'dle23 is down against the side of the' bin the r'ow'o'f `iirigersfwillbe in the way of the cans totsupport them, andwhen the handle is lifted 'to dotted'position the ngersl will turn down and come out through slots 24 in thewall of the binto' let' the' cans pass as they fall to the conveyor `4. Preferably there is 'a spring 25 to normally turn the bar so asvtoI have the fingers projecting inwardin 'can stopping position, andalatch 2lil pivoted to the bin as at 2T which'may be swung under any: of the 'iingers when turned down and out, so asto hold them all out and as shown at the left side ofjFig'. 2 where a duplicate latchbar 20 lruns alongl the wall;-I"y of the bin.- The Vspring 25 'may be arranged in` any desired manner.' but is here indicated-as wrapped around the bar 20 and with one endsccured to the bar and the other adjacent bearing 22.

endsecured to the Sheet Vmetal plate lI8 u orstiiened asybyk several ribs 28,' secured toits rearside, and is providedwith a ilange 29' at 'its lower edge which detachably bolts to xed flange 30 secured alQng they edge oi' fthe'biny` Thumb nuts 3| .ontbolts 32 providefor easy attaching or removing of the plate, `s o that itfmay be attached .to either edge of the bin as indicated by the dotted position I8 in Fig. 2"so as to permitworking from one side to unload one end'of alzar,` y

PAT

along the edge-1 of the is preferably reinforcedv i a casing pulley 40 u and the upward run of which belt `is resiliently then from the other side to unload the other end of the car'. and as will be understood with reference to Fig. 5 where the railroad box car is designated 33 and where the bin I of the appa-- man can work between the receiving bin Ik an'd each can and as many in the row, as

. 4 elongated bin with side walls spaced to freely receive a stack of cans one can in depth, said bin being freely open on top and provided with a bottom plate slanting downwardly toward one end of the bin, an elevator arranged to receive the.

cans adjacent the lower end of the bin and elevate them yto a point higherthan the bin, and a chute extending downward from the top of the elevator into which the elevator discharges the cans, said chute formed with two downward extending passages for the gravity descent of the cans, one passage provided with guides to hold ends of the cans aboutthree or four rows below y the top of the pile and lifted to carry all o f the cans which will stay on it-say the thirty cans shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing-and place them over the bin plate: I8, then bylowering the fork until it rests on the upper be withdrawnand-the cans will all `fall'to the conveyor 4. However, if the bin is fitted with the latch bars 2liv as described, the stop fingers 2i will be projectinginwardly of the bin and will supportl the stack of cans inthe position shown in Fig. 2 until the handle 23 of the forward latch bar is lifted to withdraw the ngers andpermit the cans to fall. `If the stack of cans when fallen into the bin is so high that the upper row or two still'con'ie above the nostion of the thenretracted fingers, the handle 23 is held up until enough of the'cans have been carried away'by the conveyor to lower the pile and permit the fingers to swing inwardly again forfthe next stack of cans to corne.y

The conveyor carries the cans from the bin under an elevator which carries them to the top of the gravity chute. The elevator here shown comprises an endless belt 31 operating within 3B over an upper pulley 39 and a lower secured to shaft Il and driven thereby pressed'as -by leafsprings4l against the cans i9 and rolls themunagainst a fixed outer wall 42 of theicasine:as indicated in Fig. 1 to fall down the gravity chute 43to finally roll out on a discharge chute or conveyor .44 which may extend to the warehouse, or to 'another conveyor, not` shown, for carrying the cans wherever desired.

If the workman is taking cans from an end of the box car 33 which results in the cans pointingfthe wrongway'as they are discharged on conveyor or chute,` a gate 45 at the top of the gravity anioperatinghandle y4! at the outer side of the chute casing-38, is swung down to the dot-ted horizontal position to close off chute 43 and thus make the cans from the elevator roll over the gate 45'to fall through a spiral gravity chute 48 which maybe made of wire as indicated so as to turn the descending cans 180 to reverse their open ends to point in the opposite direction when they reach the discharge conveyor or chute 44. As such spiral can reversing chutes are in themselves old in the art (see my U. S. Patent No. 1,815,029 of July 21, 1931) no further description of the construction would seem necessary.

-. From the above description it will be seen that I as'shown in Fig. 3 against the rear edge 30 of the bin, the` fork'rnay chute pivoted-on an axle 46 provided with .the descendingcans in alignment, and the other passage provided with twisted guides to turn the descending cans end for end in going through,

, and means for switching the cans from the elevator to either of the two passages.

2. A can unloading appwratus comprising an 'elongated bin with confronting side walls spaced. to freely receive a stack of round cans one can only in depth with the cans all extending transversely of the stack,`said bin being freely open on top to receive the stack of cans and provided with guiding means extending above said bin at one side only to guide the stack'of cans as a unit into thebin without the cans turning over manually controlled'means to 'temporarily support such a stack of cans from adjacent the top of the bin in position to fall therein, conveyor means within the lower part of the bin arranged to move .the cans when deposited therein toward one end of 'the bin, and means for electing the cans in single file from said end of the bin. i

3. A can unloading apparatus comprisingan elongated bin with sidewalls spaced to freely revceive a stack of cans one can in depth, said bin being freely open on top and provided with manually controlled means` tol temporarily support such a stack of cans from adjacent the top of the bin in position to fall therein, an upwardly extending and backwardly tilted wall supportingv the rear ends lof the cans of the stack when tem-v porarilysupported as set out, conveyor means a large box car of cans may be quickly unloaded within the lower part of the bin arranged to move i the cans when deposited therein toward one.end of the bin, and means for electing the cans in single file from said end of the bin.` i i A4:. In a construction as set out in claim 3, said wall comprising a plate provided with means'for detachably securing it along either edge of the bin.

. A can unloading apparatus comprising an elongated bin with side walls spaced to freely receive a'stack of cans one can in depth, said bin being freelyopen on top and provided with a bar extending along and revolvably supported adjacent the upper edge of the bin, a handleprojecting lfrom said bar for turning the same-,fand a row of fingers secured to and projecting from the bar arranged toswing in or out of the way of a stack of cans over thebin ,for temporarily supporting the cans above the binl and dropping them into the bin when thehandle is operated.

6. In a structureas s'et out in claim 5, there being a bar with can supporting fingers'as described on both sides of the bin 4for independent operation.

'7. A can unloading apparatus comprising an.

JOHN ALBERTOLI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,451,450 Smith Apr. 10, 1923 1,954,944 Olney Apr. 17, 1934 1o 1,972,489 Rideout et al Sept., 4, 1934 

